Little Red Robin Hood
by Sir Snuffles the Stalwart
Summary: Ruby getting in the middle of Roman's Dust shop heist can't just be ignored, but getting someone inside Beacon would be much more useful than straight up revenge. What could a criminal mastermind and talented young huntress accomplish if they were actually working together?


A suited, sunglasses wearing man flew through a shop window, rolling to a stop on the road outside. He was quickly followed by the red cloaked Huntress who sent him flying in the first place. She checked to make sure he would be staying down, then slowly stood and turned to face the shop, unfolding a massive mechanized scythe as she did. She cut an impressive figure, posing with her scythe and staring down several other suited, sunglasses wearing men and one more distinctive figure in a white trench coat, clearly the leader of the group.

 _'That would've looked SO. COOL!_ ' thought one Ruby Rose, desperately trying to keep a straight face as she coolly looked over the men in the shop.

"Do… do you think she's alright? She's just standing there… staring." One of the suited men whispered, not taking his eyes off Ruby.

"Man, hell if I know. I'm more worried about Indy. Bitch just kicked him through a _wind-_ "

"Halt, evildoers!" Ruby called out, voice comically deep and not at all happy with how un-intimidated the goons were.

This seemed to get the leader's attention, but chuckling wasn't quite the reaction Ruby was going for.

"Evildoers, eh? I've gotta admit, that's a new one. I _do_ like the sound of it. 'Roman Torchwick, Master Thief and all 'round Evildoer!'" Torchwick said, gesturing above his head to emphasize each word of his new title.

"You… like the sound of it?" Ruby asked, not entirely sure what was going on. This wasn't how she imagined things going _at all._

"Of course!" Torchwick exclaimed. "You wouldn't believe how dull it gets hearing the same thing over and over. 'Torchwick, you fiend!' this and 'Roman you rat bastard!' that. Always nice to add something new to the mix, you know?"

"Still, can't really let you get away with interfering. Bad for the reputation if a little girl can stop me. I'm sure you understand." Torchwick said, looking completely unconcerned and inspecting his fingernails as he did. After a moment, he jerks his head towards Ruby.

"Get her."

As soon as he does, the goons on either side of him rush for the store's entrance, one even vaulting the counter and through the broken window. All that achieved was the back of Crescent Rose smacking the side of his head and sending him tumbling down the sidewalk, unconscious.

Ruby spun with the motion, twirling around and planting Crescent Rose in the sidewalk facing the shop's door from her position in front of the broken window as the thugs spilled out into the night. The men rushed towards Ruby, red machetes drawn and scrambling over each other to be the first to reach her. Ruby sighed and shook her head.

Crescent Rose barked as Ruby pulled the trigger, bullet shattering the sidewalk as Ruby used the momentum to smash the back of her scythe into Goon 1 on her left, sending him flying into Goon 2 and both of them back into the store. The last two hesitated before engaging. Ruby smirked, just a _little,_ as she saw the hesitation. That was apparently enough to have them charging her again.

Crescent Rose fired once more, Ruby jumping and letting the momentum clear space between her and her targets. Pointing Crescent Rose behind her and obliterating some more innocent sidewalk, Ruby darted forward, sweeping the legs out from underneath both men charging her and sending them rolling down the street.

"In... Indy? Is… is that you?" asked one of the goons, coming to a rest next to the man Ruby kicked through the shop window. "Oh my gods man, this job was not worth it. Not at fu-"

The man, already hard to hear over the moans and groans of Ruby's other victims, fell silent as Torchwick's cane smashed into his head. Ruby glared at Roman, who shrugged unrepentantly as he continued to meander into the street in front of her.

"Turns out, you get what you pay for. You would not _believe_ how cheap these guys were." Looking at the dazed, unconscious, and groaning men littered around the street, Torchwick shrugged again. "Well, maybe you would. You seem to know your stuff Red, I'm impressed!"

"Don't call me Red, Torchwick" Ruby bit out, staring at an unconcerned Torchwick down Crescent Rose's sights.

"Oh, or what?" Torchwick asked, cocky smile firmly in place as he stared down the rifle barrel. "Is the big, bad, Huntress going to shoot someone just standing in the stre- WHOAH!" Torchwick let out a cry as he desperately threw himself to the side, just barely managing to dodge Ruby's shot.

Ruby calmly chambered the next bullet, smiling innocently.

"Alright. You've certainly got guts kid. But after that?" Roman shook his head, adjusted his hat, and lowered himself into a fighting stance.

"Playtime's over."

Torchwick charged Ruby, who just stood in place, scythe tip firmly planted in the ground. Ruby raised Crescent Rose's shaft to block a swing of Roman's cane, letting the momentum send her swinging around behind Roman and planting two feet in his back. He bounced off a nearby wall and rolled to his feet with a grunt, instantly closing on Ruby again.

Ruby fired twice at Roman, sending herself flying back and forcing him to block the shots. She fired once more behind her and used her semblance to speed behind Roman, quickly turning and swinging Crescent Rose at his waist. Roman just barely managed to get his cane between the blade and his body, the blow sending him stumbling back.

Roman caught his feet and blew some hair out of his face, turning to face Ruby and started firing whistling shells at her as she blurred around the street, using her semblance to dodge the shots. Growling, Roman pulled out a red Dust crystal and threw it at Ruby's feet, immediately following it up with another shell. Ruby's eyes widened, she definitely did _not_ let out an "Eep!" as she fired straight down, jumping into the air.

Torchwick smirked at the sound, right up until Ruby made contact with a street light and launched herself at him, holding Crescent Rose above her head and screaming as she fell from the sky.

Roman swore and dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding being cut in half but still sent flying as Ruby fired Crescent Rose and drove the back into his stomach. Roman hit the ground hard and staggered to his feet, one arm clutching his stomach.

"Right. Well. That just happened" Roman said, leaning on his cane as Ruby calmly took aim from across the street.

"Surrender Torchwick!" Ruby called out. "You don't have to get hurt here!"

Roman just chuckled. "You're good Red, I'll give you that. You're _damn_ good. But then…" Roman was interrupted by the sudden roar of a Bullhead's engines as it flew over head, dodging a spear of light and dropping a rope ladder next to him.

"So am I! Until next time, Red!" Roman said as he grabbed the ladder. The moment he did, the Bullhead raced away, the ladder retracting as it went. Within seconds both the Bullhead and cheekily waving criminal were out of sight, leaving Ruby standing in the street staring after them.

Moments later, a purple glyph spun into existence beside Ruby, a blonde woman wearing a strange purple cape and wielding a riding crop gently dropping onto it. Ruby coolly leant on her scythe as the older woman surveyed the ruined street, gouges, craters, and battered bodies littered everywhere.

The older woman turned to face Ruby, pushing her glasses up as she did. Ruby coolly met her eyes, gave a slight upward nod of her head, and trying to sound as cool as she could, said:

"Sup"

* * *

"I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger."

Ruby nodded along, head propped up on one arm, trying to keep her eyes open. Falling asleep in an interrogation room would _probably_ be a bad idea.

"It was fine, I had it covered."

Glynda raised one eyebrow, stopping her pacing and turning to face Ruby.

"Is that so? _This_ is what you call 'having it covered'?"

Glynda walked forward to place her scroll in front of Ruby, a video of her fight with Torchwick looping on the screen. Ruby lowered her arm and leaned forward, watching the video intently.

"Yeeess…? Ruby asks after a minute of watching the fight. "I thought it was pretty cool actually. Yeah, like that!" Ruby says as her smaller self falls screaming out of the sky and Torchwick scrambles out of the way. "Did you _see_ that?! It was awesome!"

Glynda froze, just staring at Ruby. After a moment, she straightened up and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and mumbling to herself. "I could have stopped this. Just had to say yes to Tai, but _no…_ Knew this would happen with Qrow involved…"

Glynda shook her head and looked over to the grinning Ruby, who waved at seeing she was the focus again. Pasting on a smile, Glynda continued.

"Setting aside the thousands of Lien in property damage your fight caused, you not only managed to non-lethally remove most of the combatants from the field, but held off Roman Torchwick, an opponent who has bested Hunters three times your age. There's someone here you sho-"

Glynda was cut off by the door opening. Professor Ozpin walked in, a mug of coffee in one hand, and a plate of cookies in the other. Smiling an apology at Glynda, he walked to the table, setting his load down and taking a seat.

Ruby looked up from the cookies and made eye contact, Ozpin stilling for a brief moment as she did.

"You hav-"

"An awesome scythe? Thank you!" Ruby cut in, darting forward to grab the mug of coffee as she did.

Ozpin chuckled as Glynda glared at Ruby from over his shoulder, grabbing a cookie from the tray and taking a bite.

"You do, yes. And… silver eyes"

Ruby blinked at that, and started eyeing the mug of coffee in her hand with suspicion.

"Thank… you?" Ruby said, still staring at the coffee and taking a cautious sip. After a few moments went by without Ruby passing out, she shrugged and took another sip.

Straight faced, Ozpin says "You're quite welcome" and continued on. "You also have a skill with that scythe I've only ever seen in one other person."

Both people at the table ignored the new muttering about "that damned bird."

Ruby perked up, nodding quickly with a bright smile on her face. "Yeah, my uncle Qrow right? He taught me _everything_. And I'm really glad he did, because before he did I was kinda _garbage_ and now I can do all sorts of cool stuff li-" Ruby caught herself mid-sentence and sat back down in her chair, blushing slightly.

"Yes, you certainly seem to have learned quite a bit from Qrow." Ozpin said with a smile. Ozpin stayed quiet, taking another bite of the cookie in his hand and looking at Ruby thoughtfully. "Enough to hold off one of the most capable criminals in living memory, even."

Ozpin leaned forward in his chair slightly, folding his hands together on the table in front of him and looking at Ruby over his glasses.

"Tell me, Miss Rose, you learned _everything_ from your uncle Qrow?"

Ruby choked on her coffee as Ozpin spoke, taking a moment to cough and pound her chest before replying. "I mean, I learned all sorts of stuff at Signal too. None of the teachers were as good as Qrow was but I mean they weren't _bad_."

"I see." Ozpin held his pose for a moment longer, examining Ruby. He nodded, seemingly satisfied with what he found, and leaned back in his chair with a smile. Looking over to Glynda, he asked "Well?"

Glynda sighed, rubbing at the bridge of her nose again. "She's clearly ready, and I'm afraid of what she'll do if we _don't_. She's destructive enough already."

"Excellent." Ozpin turned back to Ruby, who already had one foot on her chair, both arms in the air, and was cheering silently. Noticing the attention was back on her, Ruby blurred back into her seat, turning her head to the side and coughing awkwardly.

"I take it you know who I am." Ozpin said with a small smile.

Ruby nodded quickly, trying and failing to keep a grin from growing on her face. "Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

"And I take it, given the… circumstances," Ozpin paused, gesturing at Ruby "you want to come to my school?"

Ruby lost the battle against her smile and nodded eagerly " _Absolutely."_

"Then please, let me be the first to say: Welcome to Beacon Academy, Miss Rose."

Ruby cheered again, not so silently this time.

* * *

Ruby was walking down a side street, a skip in her step and humming a tune as she went. Deciding to take a shortcut down an alley…

…she found a blade pressed against her throat almost immediately. Aura sparking under the strain, Ruby laughed nervously, going as limp as she could.

"Haha ok wow this is bad uh…" Ruby squeezed her eyes shut and started yelling "pleasedon'tkillmeohgodsYangwasrightIshoul-" and was quickly stifled by a gloved hand covering her mouth.

Without so much as a word, her captor pushed Ruby forward, a clear command to start walking. Mouth still covered, blade still at her throat and with no way to draw Crescent Rose, Ruby started walking.

Not thirty seconds later her captor opened a side door and flung Ruby inside. Ruby rolled to a stop in a large, dark room. A circle of light surrounding a couch, armchair, and coffee table in the centre of the room was the only illumination.

Ruby immediately sprung to her feet and reached for Crescent Rose, but found it missing. Looking around in a panic, Ruby saw a short woman walk into the circle of light and take a seat on the couch, Crescent Rose deployed and swung over one shoulder. The woman winked at Ruby and patted the couch next to her, brown and pink moving from one eye to the other as she did.

Ruby slowly, cautiously approached the couch, the woman starting to pout as Ruby took her time. Ruby eventually found her self sitting on the couch, as far away from the strange, pink and black haired woman as she could. The woman pouted further and crossed her arms, still holding Crescent Rose over one shoulder.

Before Ruby could think of anything to say, another spotlight flipped on, and she made an odd choking sound as she saw who it was.

"Roman…"

"My my Red, so familiar already! Why, you might just make me blush!"

The thief grinned and twirled his cane as he hopped down from the crate he was standing on and walked the short distance to the armchair, flopping down and letting out a contented sigh.

Ruby glared at the man and bit out "What do you want from me?"

Roman leaned forward, hands clasped together and elbows on his knees, pointing one finger at Ruby and nodding. "That right there is the real question, isn't it? There are just _so many_ options! But, for now, let's start off with something easy. You just walked out of a meeting with some _very_ interesting people, and I want to hear all about it.

Ruby frowned, looking at Roman quizzically "…that's it?"

Roman met her eyes, nodding. "That's it. Like I said, easy right?"

The two stared each other down, Ruby's lips quivering as she did. After a minute of the staring contest, Ruby couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. Roman followed a second later, and Neo was draped over one arm of the couch in silent laughter, struggling to breathe.

A few minutes later found Ruby lying along the couch, legs hanging over one arm and giving an occasional kick as she burst into another fit of giggles. Roman straightened up in his chair and tried to keep a straight face, but lost it and wound up laughing every time Ruby did. Neo caught her breath and wiped an imaginary tear from her eye, draping herself over the other end of the couch and leaving her head near Ruby's.

Roman lit a cigar, and shook his head after the first drag, still chuckling softly. "You should've _seen_ your face when Neo grabbed you in the alley. It was _priceless_."

Ruby snorted, rolling her head over to look at Roman as the lights in the rest of the warehouse came up, the mostly empty space dotted with the occasional container of Dust. "Really, _you_ couldn't put a price on it?"

Roman shrugged, buffing his fingernails on his jacket. "I might be able to. Let me know when you find a buyer for faces, would you?" Roman grimaced as he realized what he just said. "And on second thought, maybe don't."

Ruby nodded, looking disgusted. Neo just rolled her eyes and flipped off the couch, strolling further into the warehouse.

"You know…" Ruby started, staring up at the ceiling. "When you said 'hey, let's stage a fight to get you into Beacon and ham it up and it'll be awesome' I didn't really think you'd _like_ it when I was yelling about evildoers."

Roman just laughed. "Like it? I damn near gave the game away! Would've been a _little_ suspicious if I fell over laughing because some random kid called me an 'evildoer' don't you think?"

"Not if you actually played along!" Ruby yelled, arms crossed and pouting ferociously.

"Oh come on, it worked." Roman frowned briefly. "It… _did_ work, didn't it?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, but brightened up as Neo came back with a plate of cookies. Beaming a smile at her, Ruby started inhaling them the moment Neo set the plate down, the smaller woman smiling back and flopping onto the couch right beside Ruby.

"Uh… Ruby? Plan? You in Beacon, or did I just take a massive hit to my reputation for giggles?"

Ruby rolled her eyes again and tried to answer though a mouthful of cookie. Swallowing, Ruby tried again.

"It worked, don't worry so much." Ruby snickered, remembering the conversation. "Apparently Goodwitch is scared of what I'll do if they _didn't_ take me."

Roman barked a laugh and clapped, falling back into his chair. "Fantastic! And really, I've gotta agree with her. You can be a scary kid Re-" Roman sighed as Ruby glared at him. "Ruby. You can be a scary kid _Ruby_. Happy?"

Ruby gave him a beaming smile. "Yep!" And went back to demolish the last of the cookies.

Ruby pouted for a moment when she saw the empty plate in front of her, but then her eyes lit up and she got a mischievous grin on her face.

"So, did you know Ozpin's just fine with people taking his coffee?"

Roman laughed and Neo put her hand up for a fist bump, which Ruby returned without looking.

" _Is_ he now? You might be the first one brave enough to try taking it." Roman said, still chuckling at the idea.

Ruby nodded, but her grin started fading as she did. "Yeah. He might… alsokindasortabeontousmaybe."

Roman and Neo both froze, and slowly turned their heads to look at Ruby, who just giggled nervously and didn't make eye contact.

"And you're only bringing this up now… _why?_ " Roman asked, before shaking his head. "No, that can wait. More importantly, you said he _might_ be on to us. Could you go into just a little more detail?"

Ruby nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's not, but when I mentioned uncle Qrow was the one who trained me, Ozpin asked if I learned _everything_ from Qrow." Ruby started talking faster the longer her explanation went, gesturing to match.

"So I told him that no, I'd learned from the teachers at Signal too right? But the way he asked it was _weird_ and he was quiet after an-" Ruby stopped abruptly as a gloved hand covered her mouth again, but Neo was smiling this time.

Roman frowned briefly as Qrow was brought up, but breathed a sigh of relief as Ruby kept talking.

"Alright, sounds like you did a good job avoiding the question. I think we're ok."

Neo took her hand away and Ruby sank back into the couch, looking incredibly relieved.

"But…" Ruby froze as Roman spoke, slowly meeting his eyes. "You _have_ to be careful around him Ruby. He's got informants and influence everywhere. I don't think he's onto us yet, and we've done a damn good job at keeping you out of the spotlight, but don't give him any reason to think you're anything more than a bored, talented kid. We don't need him looking into you."

Ruby frowned back. "Wasn't planning to, but speaking of Ozpin looking at things… are my eyes weird?"

Roman just blinked at the question, caught completely off guard. Neo leaned Ruby's head back and pried open one eye, taking a long look. Eventually she let go and shrugged.

"I'm with Neo." Roman said, trying to hold back a laugh as Ruby glared at the far too innocent looking woman. "Your eyes are… definitely eyes. No idea what else he might've found. It's also Ozpin, it's anyone's guess what goes on in that head." Roman said with a shrug.

"So neither of you guys have heard anything about silver eyes being special or anything?" Ruby asked, looking between the two, who just shrugged.

"We'll both keep an ear out while you're up in Beacon, but it's still Ozpin. Don't work yourself up too much about anything he says." Roman said with a reassuring smile.

Ruby nodded, smiling back and trying to change the subject.

"So um… you catch any of the fight Neo?" At her nod, Ruby continued. "annnd…? What'd you think?"

Neo put one hand on her chin in an exaggerated thinking posture, and stared off into the distance for a moment. Eventually, Neo shrugged and gave a so-so gesture with her hand.

Ruby's eyes flew opened and she gasped, clutching at her chest. "Neo, how could you?! It was an _awesome_ fight and you know it!"

Neo snickered silently, and the air around her shattered. When Ruby could see her again, there were two Romans in the room, one looking terrified and the other looking _very_ unamused. The terrified Roman suddenly clutched his stomach and flew across the table, rolling to a stop on the floor clutching his stomach and dramatically grasping at the air above him.

Roman took another puff on his cigar, trying to hide the small smile on his face.

Ruby slid off the couch from laughing so hard.

Roman shook his head, face growing more serious as he waited for Ruby and the now normal looking Neo to calm down.

Ruby looked up from where Neo had made herself comfortable with her head on her lap as she heard Roman sigh.

"What's up Roman? Not like you to be down after a big win."

Roman nodded, sighing again before talking. "Ruby, this is it. You walk into that school tomorrow, and we're committed. Neo and I aren't about to run without you, and we're definitely not going to be _helping_ Cinder when you might end up on the frontlines. You walk into Beacon tomorrow, and the three of us are fighting the most dangerous woman on Remnant 'til the end."

Ruby nodded herself, but looked determined where Roman looked tired. "Yeah, this is it. This is big. But you've always been ok with risks when there's enough at stake, and this'll mean you and Neo are free from Cinder. That's worth fighting for." Ruby starts smiling as she continues. "And it's not like we'll be fighting alone, right? I mean that's the entire point of getting me into Beacon. We're going to have friends, _Hunter_ friends, fighting with us. We've got a real shot at winning this, and we've all got a better shot at actually _surviving_ this than just playing along. That'll only work until we're not useful."

Roman nodded along with Ruby's speech, laughing a little and shaking his head at the end. "Hard to remember you're still just a kid when you say stuff like that." Roman stays silent for a moment. "Just be careful Ruby. Cinder doesn't know you're involved and you _can't_ give that away, under any circumstances. I don't want to imagine what Neo will do to me if you get hurt." Roman shuddered, imagining it despite himself.

Neo glared at Roman from where she was on the couch, wrapped around Ruby.

Ruby hugged Neo back, looking fiercely determined. "This is going to work guys. It has to, so we'll _make_ it happen."

"Cinder's going down."

* * *

 **A/N:**

Right, first things first.

 **THERE WILL BE NO SHIPPING IN THIS STORY, ROSEWICK OR OTHERWISE**

Canon relationships like Arkos and Renora, depending on how that shakes out, _might_ be in the background. That's it.

And with that out of the way, thanks for reading! This is the first piece I'm publishing anywhere, so any and all feedback is very much appreciated. You can also expect months between updates, but I do have a good idea of where this story's going. It might take a while to get there, but it'll happen.


End file.
